FORT EUSTIS, Va. (USTCNS) --- Signaled by a simple ceremony, the Military Traffic Management Command has taken the first steps in the most important organizational change in its history.

The flag of the MTMC's Deployment Support Command here was retired today (Nov. 7) in a 1:30 p.m. ceremony.

For the first time in almost 40 years, MTMC no longer will have one, or more, subordinate headquarters for its Continental United States port terminal units.

In a transition process that will go through June 2003, MTMC's Fort Eustis organization now serves as the command's operations center. MTMC will now have a single headquarters for all its global hemispheric operations.

"A huge step forward is being taken to make the Deployment Support Command into the MTMC Operations Center," Maj. Gen. Kenneth L. Privratsky, commander told employees and guests.

"Today we are leveraging the center of excellence to become the operational hub of the Military Traffic Management Command. It is a quantum step forward in the best interest of the Military Traffic Management Command and this work force."

The organization change is designed to streamline operations and reduce bureaucratic layering. When completed in mid-2003, as many as 260 employee spaces - 252 civilian and eight military - will be eliminated. This represents an 11 percent reduction in MTMC's 2,346 currently authorized positions.

The Military Traffic Management Command is responsible for the Department of Defense's global surface transportation movements.

The assimilation of the operations mission at MTMC Fort Eustis was accelerated by the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, according to Brig. Gen. Barbara Doornink, the former commander of the Deployment Support Command.

"It has propelled us at a rate of speed we could not have imagined," said Doornink. "It is a challenge we cannot afford not to meet. I hold great hope and confidence that you will meet every challenge and curve ball."

In the new organization, Doornink has assumed the position of MTMC deputy commanding general and director of operations.

The Deployment Support Command was formed on Oct. 2, 1998. It consolidated many of the functions and duties of MTMC's former ocean ports at Bayonne, N.J., and Oakland, Calif. The two ports were closed in September 1999 as part of the 1995 Base Realignment & Closure Commission.

Among attendees at the ceremony was retired Army Lt. Gen. Ed Honor, a former MTMC commander who served five separate tours with the command.

"I stick my chest out with pride on the excellent achievements of this command," said Honor, president, National Defense Transportation Association, of Alexandria, Va. "I want you to know I'm your biggest cheerleader and that your work impacts all service members and their families."

MTMC's new organization will be aligned within four functional areas. Three divisions at Fort Eustis will include: Plans, Readiness & Mobilization, headed by Col. Gary Engel; Deployment Operations, headed by Col. Dennis Faver; and Global Distribution, headed by Navy Capt. Kevin Walter. The fourth division, Programs and Policy, headed by Col. Gary Montgomery, will be located in Alexandria, Va.

(FROM MILITARY TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT COMMAND PUBLIC AFFAIRS)